The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Divisional Round

From a 3-4 start to the NFC Championship game.

The San Francisco 49ers withstood the defensive onslaught from the Dallas Cowboys to wrap up a 19-12 victory. Here are the five takeaways from the game.

1. Dak Prescott???

Dak Prescott is one of the NFL's most respected locker-room leaders. On Sunday evening, he failed to provide the spark to the Cowboys team, who have not reached a conference championship game since January 1996. Prescott threw two interceptions and was saved from public humiliation when Dre Greenlaw dropped cake walk of a pick-six later in the game.

Dallas' defense played as a genuine championship-caliber unit while the offense cracked under pressure. The 49ers were favorites to win the game with a slight margin, but Dallas had a better team than in 2021.

After the loss, national media mocked Dallas relentlessly. The most valued sports team in the world continues with its championship drought while their old nemesis from the '90s advanced to its 6th conference championship game in the past 12 years.

Prescott has not been at his best when pressured, and "America's Team" needs to have a long, hard conversation with its leader.

2. Better than the predecessor

DeMeco Ryans inherited a talented and well-coached defense from Robert Saleh. Ryans has elevated that unit into an elite one. Jimmie Ward is asked to play cornerback and own the position. Deommodore Lenoir does not make too many costly mistakes.

The 37-second blunder against the Green Bay Packers in the 2021 Week 3 game is now well behind Ryans' resume. He had a busy week auditioning for head coaching jobs, but the defense did not miss a beat. Unless Ryans decides otherwise, he will be a head coach elsewhere in 2023. Ryans has proved he is a better defensive coordinator than Saleh, and the next chapter should be exciting.

3. Fred Warner

Warner was flying under the radar most of the season. Dre Greenlaw took the limelight this season from Warner as a linebacker. On Sunday, Warner was the best player on the defense with a telling performance. This a reminder of why Warner is the best at his position. He was everywhere on the field, from touchdown-saving pass breakups to stopping running backs behind the line of scrimmage.

Warner is one of few players in the 49ers who have not regressed after a big contract.

4. A QB is all Kyle Shanahan needs.

In his 6th year as head coach, Kyle Shanahan is on to the conference championship game for the 3rd time. A healthy, serviceable quarterback is all that Shanahan needed to achieve it. In a year when he put doubters aside, Shanahan started to build his legacy. Shanahan's game plan against the Cowboys was to absorb the onslaught and take the game deep into the 3rd quarter. When the Cowboys defense ran out of steam, he stuck to the running game and closed out the game.

5. It is just not luck

Brock Purdy had no touchdown passes, which broke his multiple-touchdown passing streak. Purdy did not throw interceptions as his counterpart, which was a deciding factor in a game in which Ray-Ray McCloud fumbled a punt return. Purdy was lucky not to be intercepted. Brandon Aiyuk turned himself into a defensive back for a moment to stop Dallas safety from catching a Purdy throw.

Purdy was under immense pressure from the stingy Dallas defense all day. Purdy will need luck to be on his side next Sunday against the best team in the league. So far, the rookie QB has delivered.